This blog is all about stories...stories about me, about my life, about Dubai, about my life in Dubai (and Abu Dhabi), and about anything that I find interesting enough to share with you...Enjoy!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Consistency is key!

I flew on Etihad for the first time last year, on a trip to Paris. The experience was impressive to say the least. I had heard a lot of negative comments about Etihad and their planes from many people, but I was pleasantly surprised by my experience. Planes were new, service was good and so was the food.

I flew Etihad again recently on a trip to Beirut, and it felt like it was a different airline! On the way there, we were on one of those old planes that have the TV in the middle of the aisle...no individual TVs. Food was OK...airplane food. But on the way back, it was even worse! There was NO TV! I honestly cannot remember the last time I was on a flight where there was not a single screen!

The flight attendants actually had to demonstrate the safety instructions manually...the way they used to do it around 15 years ago!

But then the worst part was the baggage claim. I cleared customs quickly (have I mentioned that I love e-gate?), and waited for my luggage. I saw a family friend waiting for his luggage as well, and he got his around 15 minutes later. I was still waiting...and waiting...and waiting...

A few suitcases would drop down onto the carousel, and then the belt would stop. And then a few more. And then stop again. This went on for about an hour, until I realized that the bags that started dropping down were for the next flight, not mine!

There were still quite a few people waiting for their bags, and a few of us dashed over to the lost baggage counter. I was FUMING!

Luckily, a young man told me to wait again at the carousel, because the Etihad luggage was still arriving...so I went back, waited a bit longer, and FINALLY, around an hour and 20 minutes after my flight landed, I got my suitcase.

Another case in point is that my friend flew Etihad the day before I did, from Beirut. He got to Beirut airport 2 hours before his flight, only to find out that his flight was delayed 3 hours. Poor guy had to roam around Beirut airport for 5 hours before he finally got on his flight!

All this to say that if an airline is to establish itself as the "country's national airline", then it should do a better job at being consistent with its service. That is the only way a brand will survive in the long run.

Your inflight experience DS isn't a decline in ETIAHD'S service standards, but an experience of an operational policy implemented by most, if not all, airlines here.

You see, carriers here tend to deploy less 'equipped' planes to short haul flights to destinations like Beirut, Damascus, Cairo... etc... Same thing applies to staff - most new (and not soo lucky) attendants get these short flights over packed with short tempered passengers.

Better planes and more experienced staff are saved for long haul trips (CDG, JFK, LHR ...etc) - of course, that includes better services ..etc.

That, most probably, explains why ur flight to paris was a delight whereas the one to beirut was a relative sub-par.

As for ground service, trust me, its a disaster everywhere during summer months due to crazy air traffic.

This summer, we were flying EK, thru the relatively less congested Terminal 3 and flying business class (were luggage should gets priority handling)... still, it took us about 1hr30mins to get our bags

moryarti, you're right about the planes, possibly wrong about crew. Can't speak for Etihad (although as far as I know their system is similar to EK), but believe me, on Emirates, my roster included both long haul trips and turn-arounds. Your seniority doesn't save you from Cairos and Bahrains...

True Mory. The North American slave ships, live it up / mutate to better aircraft and services to foreign destinations. I've flown Delta and United to International to EU, Tokyo and Dubai. The aircraft was fantastic and the service, far better to national destinations.

This knowledge comes from a travel experience that sometime reaches 3 to 4 trips per month to destinations in ME, EU, APAC & US. I run into more friends in airports than i do at malls... can u imagine how sad that can be?

In the family, we also have 3 pilots and 2 pursers (2 working for EK) and you do NOT wanna know some of the stories they share with me about the industry :)

Nice blog. explanation is excellent.The widebodies are used mostly on the long haul routes so they are outfitted more lavishly with inflight amenities than the smaller A320s used on the short haul flights.yeast infection

Now, this is what which happens with most of the Asian airlines. You travelled to Europe and yo found excellent services and when you traveled on the same airline to Beirut, there was a big difference. If such airline companies improve their services regardless of what their services is then they can improve their service.